


Fifteen Miles Outside of Nowhere

by chanyeolk



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bed & Breakfast, Alternate Universe - Small Town, Junmyeon is a mechanic, M/M, baekhyun owns a bed and breakfast, chanyeol is a city boy, jongdae is a store clerk, kyungsoo is a protective waiter, minseok runs a book store but he wanted to be a baker, slow burn?, very very minor suchen if you close both eyes and also walk away, yixing is a flower boy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 22:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8818618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chanyeolk/pseuds/chanyeolk
Summary: Baekhyun owns and operates an old, forgotten bed & breakfast and Chanyeol accidentally stumbles upon it after purposefully getting lost.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a monster of a fic in comparison to my usual 2-4k fics. What started off as a one shot with about 4k words was ripped apart and rewritten into... this. I can't say exactly how many chapters there will be, but probably around 5 or so. That is, if everything goes according to plan it will be. 
> 
> Also, just a little insight into my own life. The town in this is actually based on a town that I spent the first eleven years of my life. So I hold this fic's setting pretty close to my heart.

The town is about thirty years passed being considered old. It's one of those towns where every home is associated with a certain family name, and will continue to be for generations and generations. There are gravel driveways and too many trees and crumbling roads that wrap around the mountains like spiral staircases. Closer to the center of town, the trees dissipate a bit. There's more room for things, like the general store that sells everything from milk and eggs to flowers to gasoline. In the heart of town there's also a school that teaches every grade because only about two hundred children live in the town and a book store that exclusively sells books from the previous decade and prior. The last building before the road continues on towards a dead end is a restaurant. The restaurant has been run by the Do family for about as long as the town has existed. It's also burned down twice.

The first time it burned, it was all anyone talked about. In a town where the gossip is normally centered around how someone got pregnant or someone left, an entire restaurant burning down is the headlining event for a while. It took a few weeks to rebuild the first time, back in the eighties. The second time around, only two years ago, it burned again. Everyone got out with little injuries, except for the son who ended up with bad burns on his face and down his left side. When he was airlifted to the nearest hospital, everyone was sure he would take it as an opportunity to leave. A month later, though, he was back in the restaurant taking orders, flesh pink and sore still. The Do family needed all the hands they could get to bring in money to pay for damages and hospital bills.

By far, though, the biggest gossip of the town has always been the Byun family. There’s only one road that leads into town, a left after a forgotten exit off the highway where most people only go right when they reach the fork in the road. Ten miles down that street and fifteen miles before the town is a bed and breakfast that was once run by the Byun family. That is, it was before the mother took off with another woman, leaving her husband and two young sons behind to run the slowly dying inn by themselves. Three years later, the father passed away. Really it was an illness that took him, but the townsfolk swear it was from a broken heart. The two brothers tried their best at keeping the bed and breakfast running, but eventually the eldest left for the city too. His eyes were set on a degree in law from a major university. Left on his own, the youngest son keeps it going. He’s a cheerful man going by the name of Baekhyun. Baekhyun is completely content with his quiet life in the empty, forgotten bed and breakfast. 

The house has four rooms. One of the rooms in the back of the house, the smallest, is Baekhyun's. It's decorated nicely and kept very clean along with the rest of the house. Inside he has a twin-sized bed with white sheets that match the ones in the rooms he rents out. There are pictures of him and his family, back from when they were all together, on the walls. A radio sits on the dresser alongside a TV that he hasn't turned on in a very long time. The window sits open almost constantly, blowing a breeze across the piano that rests against the wall.

Two of the guest rooms are identical; queen sized beds with an abundance of pillows. There's a bathroom across the hall from the rooms with two sinks and a shower separate from the tub. Each room comes with a radio and a TV, though there aren't many channels so far away from any towers. There's internet access, but Baekhyun keeps it turned off until guests come. He hasn't used it in five years. 

The last guest room is technically the attic, but it looks nothing like one. There's a king-sized bed and a full bathroom that’s connected to the room. The walls are painted a beautiful shade of lilac and a long window stretches across almost the entirety of the far one. Of course, all one can really see out of the window is trees. It doesn't make it any less beautiful, though. 

Baekhyun turns the rooms once a week, alternating which one he dusts and washes the sheets in depending on the day. It's one of the few things that keeps him busy as he spends each day alone. On occasion, he runs to the store in town, praying that no one shows up while he is away. He'll pick up groceries to last him a while, and some flowers to place on the bedside tables of each room. Yixing down at the general store always sends him home with beautiful arrangements of hydrangea and fern leaves and baby's breath. They complement the decor so well, and Yixing never gets tired of making the usual arrangement. 

Baekhyun is twenty-six and sitting in the garden amongst trees long dead from the wisteria clung to them when he sees the first car in half a decade. A station wagon pulls into the rocky driveway from the road, and it takes everything within Baekhyun not to jump up to his feet and run to the car. The poor vehicle looks like it might combust at any moment, rattling and chugging and honestly making Baekhyun a bit nervous. He makes his way to the porch to wait for the stranger instead. 

The wagon shuts off with a noise that sounds an awful lot like it just heaved its last bit of life and a man steps out. He's tall, taller than the car by a good amount, and pulls no bags out of his car before starting up the driveway. Seemingly friendly, he offers Baekhyun a closed-lipped smile and a wave when he notices him on the porch swing. 

"Here to stay?" Baekhyun asks politely when the man reaches him, offering a bright smile that he hopes is just the right amount of charming. He takes a long look at the stranger, noticing his strikingly boyish features for someone that can't be younger than twenty-three. Chocolate hair is rustled on top of his head and he is dressed in tight-fitting jeans and a hoodie. Baekhyun hasn't met many people from the city, but he can tell with one glance that this man came from there.

The man adjusts a pair of large headphones around his neck. "Stay?" He inquires as he looks up at the white paneled house. The "Byun's Bed and Breakfast" sign sways in the wind. His mouth forms a perfect _O._

"Or maybe you need help with something?" Baekhyun giggles behind his hand.  

The guest looks back at his car, pointing at it with his thumb, before looking at Baekhyun with pink cheeks and ears and letting out this breathless sort of laugh. It's just at the halfway point between beautiful and stunning. "My car– The interstate– Can you point me in the direction of where I can get some gas?" 

He's cute, Baekhyun thinks, with his bashful demeanor and young features. He stands up off the swing, walks into the orange light of the setting sun, "Could you give me the time?" 

"Oh, yeah. Sure!" 

Baekhyun waits in silence as the man just kind of stares at him. "Um..." he starts and tries not to laugh again. 

"Time!" the man exclaims, and pulls a cellphone out of his pocket, nearly dropping it in the process. "Right. It's six-thirty." 

"The general store is about fifteen miles straight down this road," Baekhyun informs him. "Unfortunately," he begins, right as the man was getting ready to thank him and take off. "It's not open on Sundays." 

"Not even the pumps?" He asks in a horribly pitiful voice, lower lip jutting out just the tiniest bit and bringing Baekhyun's attention to it. 

His eyes shift from lingering on his lip and back to the tall man's eyes. "We don't do much around here on Sundays. Call us old fashioned," he laughs. "Somewhere to be?" 

The man nods but shrugs at the same time, looking very confused. He turns and stares at his car for a while, and Baekhyun stares at the way the sky is a beautifully soft pink along the horizon. It's the same color as the inner portion of the hydrangea petals he loves so dearly. Fingers rake through his hair as he mumbles to himself. 

"How much for a night?" The man asks, and he sounds so stressed that Baekhyun couldn't possibly bring himself to charge him. So he waves him off and gestures for the man to follow him inside, just happy to have someone to talk to.

The man looks around the house with this sort of awe in his eyes as if he has never seen anything other than tiny studio apartments. He scans over the wooden dining table, slender fingers ghosting over the varnish. They trace over picture frames and trinkets and everything he can get his hands on. At the desk in the office that Baekhyun brings him to, he stares at the family pictures for the business through the generations and the maps of the town. Baekhyun comes up behind him with a contract and a pen. 

"This one is from 2001 before they put in the highway," he points to the first map. "This one is 2002. That's when our town went a bit downhill." 

He looks at it longingly, the first one that is, before he notices the other man staring at him and looks away, trying to lighten up. Baekhyun sits back at the desk and pulls out another chair for his guest to sit in. 

"I just need to fill out your contract," he starts. "I won't charge you for anything tonight unless there's damages, so it's just a precautionary measure. Okay?"

The man nods energetically. 

"So– Name?" 

"Chanyeol," he answers too fast. "Chanyeol Park." 

"Chanyeol..." Baekhyun repeats, rolling the syllables through his brain and deciding he liked the way they came out of his mouth. "As you could probably decipher from the sign out front, my surname is Byun, but please just call me Baekhyun. Phone number?" 

The pattern continued, Baekhyun asking for little details and Chanyeol spitting them back in earnest. Chanyeol's signature at the bottom of the sheet was rushed, looking more like scribbles than anything else. Baekhyun smiled at it. Then they sat in the office for a bit longer while Chanyeol asked about the pictures on the wall in a timid tone, and Baekhyun reveled in the fact that he was no longer alone– at least for a night. 

* * *

 

"So you've never left this town?" Chanyeol asks, voice an octave higher in disbelief while he stands at the kitchen counter. Baekhyun had offered to make him dinner and he gladly accepted, alerting Baekhyun that he hadn't eaten since he left that morning. 

"Nope, I like it here."

"Haven't you ever thought about it, though?" 

"Not really," Baekhyun admits. It's true, too. When he was little he thought about it, but then the city took away his mother. Following her departure, it took his brother. Suddenly, the city didn't seem all that appealing to him. He always thought of himself as the only one to look after the house in his father's memory, so there was little desire to go anywhere else. 

Over dinner Baekhyun learned a lot about Chanyeol. The more he spoke, the less clumsy his words and actions became. Every bite seemed to loosen him up more and more, to the point of him speaking practically nonstop and Baekhyun only having a few moments to throw in delighted chuckles. Baekhyun learned that he just graduated with his Master's from a fancy school in New York, majoring in some type of musical thing that Baekhyun didn't understand. A few of his friends were heading south for a while to celebrate, and somehow he ended up going north. It happened by accident and he didn't mind much because it was a beautiful drive. Then he started to run low on gas and his car was making weird noises so he took the first exit he saw, ending up at the Byun's Bed and Breakfast. Chanyeol talks about his dog that he misses, and his sister back home. He talks a lot, but Baekhyun likes the sound of his voice throughout the kitchen. It's different from the radio he listens to on occasion, low and smooth rather than broken up by static.

"In the morning," Baekhyun says while placing two plates of thin slices of pie down at opposite ends of the table. "I'll drive you into town so you can bring back some gas. There are a few things I need too." He looks at his wilting flowers, catches the petals on his fingertips, and decides it's time to pay Yixing a visit anyways. 

Chanyeol eats, thanking Baekhyun after nearly every bite. He tells him he loves the food, loves the inn, loves that he got lost. "Where did you learn to cook?" 

"Everyone knows how to cook in small towns." 

He nods like he understands. "I have spent the last two years of my life in a tiny apartment with three other guys and we lived off of pizza and instant ramen." 

Baekhyun laughs, a pretty, light little sound. "City life sounds tragic." 

"Mostly just college life."

Baekhyun never got to go, couldn't even dream of it. It would have been leaving home, anyways. His brother went. That's why he never came back. 

A fork gets dropped on the floor, followed by Chanyeol rushing to pick it up as he stutters out something about a piano. He's too excited, standing up and rushing his plate to the sink where he sort of half-rinses it and then scurries back through the dining room and into the living area. Baekhyun follows in confusion. He takes his plate with him though and leans with his hip against the doorway, a playful smirk on his lips once he understands. Chanyeol hovers above an upright piano that he must have glanced at from his place at the table. "Do you play?" He eagerly asks. "Can  _I_  play?"

"I know how," Baekhyun answers vaguely while shoving his fork in his mouth, and then nods in approval for Chanyeol to go ahead and play. 

Chanyeol all but slams himself down on the bench. He presses two whole keys before he stops abruptly, stands up, and looks at Baekhyun with very guilty eyes. "It's out of tune," he mumbles, like it’s his fault.

Baekhyun chuckles, continues eating after a brief shrug.

"You could have warned me," the other pouts. 

"There's another one in my room. You can play it if you'd like. I keep that one tuned."  

Chanyeol raises a finger in question of what direction to go in order to find Baekhyun's room, and the latter nods his head to get Chanyeol to follow him to the second door passed the kitchen. When he opens the door, the window lets air in that blows the sheer curtains around the piano and the moon casts a surreal glow around it. Chanyeol walks to this one much slower, runs his fingertips over the sleek, dark stain of the wood. He presses a key, revels in the beautiful sound it produces, especially in comparison to the piano in the living room. Without even sitting down or turning on a light Chanyeol begins to play. Baekhyun watches from his place by the door. He plays a song that Baekhyun knows fairly well. It's quite the sight, quite the sound. 

He was five years old when his mother first sat him down at that piano and took his hands in hers. She curled his fingers into a fist aside from one and pushed his finger into the keys, guiding his hand to play a small tune. "Look at you," she told him. "A real virtuoso." Baekhyun taught himself how to play after that, though he hasn't actually touched the piano other than to tune it since his mother left. It's a painful reminder, only making him angry in place of where it used to calm him.

Chanyeol’s playing is choppy, and not in a good, intended way. It's like the playing of someone who has only just started learning. 

"Pretty," Chanyeol says as if making a decision. "Will you play?" 

Baekhyun shakes his head, "I don't particularly feel like playing tonight." 

"Please?" 

"Look," Baekhyun starts, turning his hands palm up and stretching them out towards Chanyeol. "My fingers are broken." Aside from a Band-Aid wrapped around his left pinky, the fingers were fine. 

Chanyeol smiled pitifully at Baekhyun’s hands and then met his eyes, realizing and understanding that he wouldn't be hearing the inn owner play any time soon. 

"Should I show you your room?" 

It takes about three minutes for Chanyeol to jog out to his car and come back with a backpack with frayed straps and a guitar case covered in stickers from places around the world. Baekhyun looks at the stickers in wonder. How could Chanyeol have been to so many places while Baekhyun has hardly even left the house? He follows Baekhyun up the staircase and then around to a second staircase that was clearly not in the original house design. The wood was different, lighter. Baekhyun takes him to the big suite. He had just turned it over that same morning. 

"It's so big," Chanyeol mutters. "Are you sure you want me in this one?" 

"I cleaned this one recently, so it's the least stuffy." 

Chanyeol sets his backpack down beside the bed and then sets the case down on the bed, already undoing the clasps. "Thanks again," he says without looking at Baekhyun, tone returning to that same bashful quietness as when he’d first arrived.

Baekhyun smiles. "If you need anything, just let me know. Goodnight." 

He closes the door and begins back down the stairs, happy when he can hear the faint sound of guitar chords through the walls.


	2. Chapter 2

Baekhyun rises with the sun at around seven thirty, showering and brushing his teeth. He puts on clean clothes; a pale yellow, short-sleeved shirt and some loose-fitting jeans. Not the most fashionable, but Baekhyun doesn't have many people to impress what with being in the middle of nowhere and everything. He starts up the stove, heating up a pan and getting to work on breakfast. There's a hefty stack of six pancakes before he starts cooking eggs and bacon. On the table he sets up a carafe of coffee, a pitcher of orange juice, and sets out syrup and butter. Baekhyun cuts up a melon, puts it in a bowl with strawberries and blueberries and places that on the table. 

Finally waking up, Chanyeol steps into the kitchen wearing sweatpants and a wrinkly tee shirt. His hair points in every direction and his face looks extra puffy and pouty from sleep. "Food?" 

"Yes, this is the breakfast part of the bed and breakfast," Baekhyun teases as he rubs his hands off on a small towel. "I can carry it to your room if you'd like."

"Here is fine," Chanyeol says. He takes a seat at the table and rests his head on his arms. "I just need another minute." 

Baekhyun pours a cup of coffee for himself. "I'll take you into town after you eat and whatnot. Take your time." 

"Aren't you gonna eat?" 

He pauses. Baekhyun was going to go clean up one of the rooms while Chanyeol ate. Then he was going to sweep the porch and wipe down the kitchen. "I guess I could." His plate gets filled mostly with fruit, loving the sweetness of it. Chanyeol's is loaded up with a bit of everything, all touching and making Baekhyun squirm a bit, though he doesn't say anything about it. It looks so messy in comparison to his own plate, but then again, Chanyeol as a whole looks very messy in comparison to Baekhyun.

They don’t talk much while they eat, though Baekhyun wishes they would. He knows that Chanyeol will be leaving later on and isn’t ready to go back to spending his time alone. With a guest in the house, it doesn’t feel so weird being in such a large house. The space is shared now, not only left to one person.

Sometimes, when Baekhyun gets restless from being alone, he finds himself thinking about when he was younger. Before the highway was constructed and allowed people to bypass the town, the inn was a lot busier. His mother and father were still running the place, and many people came to stay just because of how hospitable they heard the Byun family was. That changed after his mother decided her family wasn’t what she wanted anymore. Baekhyun would never say it out loud, but he almost blames his mother for what happened to the place. He spends a lot of his alone time in the years between guests thinking about what could have been.

“Are you alright?” Chanyeol asks, and Baekhyun lifts his eyes up from where he had been staring at the wood grain of the table to see his guest looking at him with genuine concern laced in his gaze. Baekhyun’s full plate of fruit now seems like the odd one as opposed to Chanyeol’s plate that only has syrup left on it.

Offering a smile seems like the best Baekhyun can do in response. “Still waking up, I guess,” he says. “I should be okay after my coffee.” His second coffee is already gone, though.

Chanyeol excuses himself from the table to get showered and dressed and Baekhyun uses the time to start on the chores he planned out for himself. The entire time he is unable to shake the bad feeling surrounding him. Baekhyun, no matter how he looks at it, does not want to go back to being alone after Chanyeol leaves later in the day.

They load themselves into Baekhyun’s truck after Chanyeol finishes getting ready, finding Baekhyun staring off in the distance while sitting on the porch swing. Baekhyun could only gulp when Chanyeol grabbed his attention, his hair combed back and styled nicely, though he seemed to be wearing almost the exact same outfit as the previous day. He sputters out a question of, “Ready to go?”

Chanyeol nods with an excited grin in response.

Baekhyun lets Chanyeol toy with the radio, but the boy has a frustrated pout on his face after about three rotations through all the stations with no luck in finding a good song. “You need an auxiliary cord.”

“A what?” Baekhyun questions, but only receives a flabbergasted expression from his passenger. They are about five more miles away from reaching the town, though the road looks like it just stretches out forever until fading into the trees. It’s hilly and Chanyeol whines about his ears popping at least four times. Baekhyun smiles sympathetically each time, telling him to make himself yawn to get rid of the feeling for a little while. They pass the book store, then the school. Chanyeol comments on the tiny building, saying that his graduating class was bigger than the entirety of the town’s school by a few hundred. Baekhyun refuses to believe him, mostly just to make Chanyeol fuss about how he’s serious.

“Is this your grocery store?” Chanyeol asks in amazement when they finally arrive at the general store.

Baekhyun nods halfheartedly, “More or less.”

A man around Baekhyun’s size runs out, doorbell jingling when the wooden door is nearly launched out of its frame. He yells in a high-pitched voice thick with an accent, “Baekhyun! It’s been too long, don’t ya think?”

“Sure has,” Baekhyun agrees and wraps an arms around the shopkeeper’s shoulders as they walk inside, both hosting blinding smiles on their faces. “How’re ya, Jongdae?”

The tall man that Baekhyun seems to have forgotten about trails behind in a stupor as he watches a flip switch in his host. Before he had almost sounded like he could have come from the city as well, but reunited with his friend it was evident that he had spent his entire life in a small town. They continue to talk, catching up from the past few weeks as Chanyeol wanders the store. It’s so small, but still manages to carry almost everything that anyone would want from a big grocery store back where he calls home. He walks up and down the aisles, enjoying the quaintness of it. Chanyeol walks passed shelves with cans of food, browses coloring books, and blushes at condoms all on the same aisle.

When he gets to the back of the store, he finds Baekhyun there exchanging words with a boy surrounded by assortments of flowers. He looks happier than any person Chanyeol has ever seen, dimple popping out when he smiles. Baekhyun introduces him as Yixing and says he’s from the city as well; says he got lost just like Chanyeol did but decided not to go back when he found a place so perfect for growing flowers. Chanyeol is only partially listening, though. He finds himself more interested in the way Baekhyun’s eyes look when they are reflecting so many different shades of violet, and the way Yixing seems to be noticing the same thing.

Yixing stands up and heads a few feet away to some shelves where a crate is loaded up with bouquets. “I have been hoping you’d be coming by soon, so I got these ready for you yesterday.”

Thanking him, Baekhyun reaches over and gives him a brief hug. Yixing’s entire face lights up.

Baekhyun parts ways with Yixing after a few more moments of catching up. He goes back to Jongdae with Chanyeol following him and carrying the crate full of six bouquets that he insisted he take from Baekhyun.

“Who’s Mr. Chivalrous over here?” Jongdae asks under his breath to Baekhyun, though Chanyeol can also hear him perfectly. He gives Baekhyun a look that asks a million question, but Baekhyun shakes his head and returns the expression with a shy smile. He pays in cash, not even seeming to own a card, and hands over extra money that he explains to be for gas. Before they leave, Jongdae winks at Chanyeol, cheek resting on his fist behind the counter, and says something along the lines of, “If ya decide to stay, I could always use a prince charming around here.”

Baekhyun groans and speeds up with a blushing, sputtering Chanyeol in tow.

“Never mind him,” Baekhyun instructs at the pump. He forcefully unscrews the cap off of a tank he pulled out of the tailgate of his truck and starts to fill it after smacking at the button for regular fuel. “He likes to tease new people. You should have seen Yixing when he first came to town. The poor kid was convinced that Jongdae was going to eat him or something.” He replaces the tank in the back of his truck and whips out another one, filling that one up less aggressively.

“He didn’t seem _that_ bad,” Chanyeol mutters, but his face still feels hot.

“Jongdae is terrible. He’s horrible and I’m so sorry you had to meet him,” Baekhyun replies, shaking his head and grumbling. It’s hard to believe that he and Baekhyun seemed close when they first arrived.

“Do you not like him?”

“Jongdae? No, I love him,” Baekhyun corrects hastily, mood shifting almost entirely. “I’ve known him most of my life.”

Chanyeol tries to act like he’s not confused.

He and Baekhyun get back in the truck, once again not bothering with the radio and instead opting to listen to the wind blowing through the open windows. “Do you mind if I stop one more place?” Baekhyun asks, tone loud to compensate for the wind.

Chanyeol shakes his head in place of saying _no, I don’t mind._

Baekhyun continues on down the road, thinking only of his impending loneliness after the two of them get back to the inn. He looks to Chanyeol, but the man is preoccupied with watching the trees pass. Baekhyun wonders about him. He knows he just graduated, that he has a dog and a sister, that he likes to listen to and play music, but he doesn’t know much else. And while he desires to ask and get to know his guest more, Baekhyun thinks it might be better not to. That way they could remain distant, or as distant as two people could be after sharing two meals and a house for a night, and it would hurt less when Baekhyun goes back to being alone. So, he keeps his mouth shut and drives the rest of the way to the restaurant in silence.

* * *

 

Chanyeol decides he is scared of Kyungsoo, pulling Baekhyun to the side and asking him if he’s safe near him. He ensures that it has nothing to do with the scars that litter his body, though, and everything to do with the fact that from the moment Baekhyun introduced him to Kyungsoo, the latter male has glared at him. Baekhyun notices the way Chanyeol looks at who he would consider his closest friend with wary eyes and only laughs. Kyungsoo is all bark and no bite, and he wants to tell the taller man that, but it’s too funny watching him fret and dance around his best friend’s possessive glares.

“Name’s Chanyeol?” The small man in an apron almost as deep and dark as his eyes asks. Those same eyes scan over Chanyeol from head to toe while Baekhyun laughs from behind his hand. He watches from the side as Kyungsoo questions his guest and enjoys the way Chanyeol returns back to the bashful man he was when he’d first shown up in Baekhyun’s driveway.

Baekhyun’s known Kyungsoo longer than Jongdae. Back when they were toddlers, his mother and Kyungsoo’s mother were very close. They often spent a lot of time together, and while Kyungsoo is actually younger than Baekhyun, he almost plays the role of an older sibling to him. No one has had his back more than Kyungsoo. He remembers when the restaurant burned, when the news got back to him that Kyungsoo was in the hospital. He remembers how he drifted around the inn with little motivation to do anything other than worry. He remembers when Kyungsoo got back and was so very unchanged, like it had never happened. Like he wasn’t reminded every morning when he looked in the mirror that he almost died. Baekhyun was no stranger to loss, but almost losing his best friend made him cherish the man that much more.

“He’s strangely cute,” Kyungsoo tells Baekhyun when he figures he has scared the poor man enough. Baekhyun watches with a small smile as Chanyeol wanders off, throwing scandalized looks back at the two of them and accidentally bumping his hip into table corners. “In the way a small child is. Or a pet.”

Baekhyun nearly chokes at the dubious smirk on his friend’s face. “You can’t keep him,” he laughs.

Throwing a hand towel over his shoulder, Kyungsoo shakes his head, “I wasn’t planning on it. How about you, though?”

“Of course not. He’s just a guest.”

“My ass,” Kyungsoo snorts. He looks at Baekhyun with a similar look to that which Jongdae had given him. “I’ve never seen you smile so much in my life, Baek. You were all giggly and googly-eyed the whole time I was trying to talk to him.”

Baekhyun glares, but can’t hold it up and resorts to a pout. “I wasn’t! He’s just… a guest.” He catches himself before saying _cute._

He scoffs, shrugs his shoulders and tucks a serving tray under his arm. The restaurant is practically empty save for a few people spread thin throughout the tables. It’s always been that way, though. Business is steady but not spectacular. Baekhyun wishes he could say the same.

“How long is he staying?” Kyungsoo asks.

“He’s leaving after we get his car running, so later today,” he answers, and tries his best to hide the disappointment.

Kyungsoo claps him on the shoulder, offers a reassuring smile. “Maybe he’ll be like Yixing.”

If only things worked out that nicely for Baekhyun. “I wouldn’t wish getting stuck here on anyone.”

Kyungsoo has to return to work, but in an excuse to spend further time with both him best friend and Chanyeol, Baekhyun orders two coffees and requests a corner booth. He watches Chanyeol as he curiously reads over bottles of sauce and the menu, questioning what a lot of things are and nodding eagerly as he begins to understand.

“After this we can head back and see about getting your car running,” Baekhyun speaks up, trying to keep his voice level.

Chanyeol nods, “I’m not really in a rush.”

Reaching for another topic so he can get the most out of this company while he hasn’t, Baekhyun begins speaking again after looking around. “I’m sure you’re curious about Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun says in a hushed tone.

“I mean, he’s just your best friend, right?”

And something about the way Chanyeol phrased the question catches Baekhyun off guard, like he’s asking numerous questions all at once. He takes a brief moment and really studies Chanyeol’s expression, but instead of answers he just finds more questions. Shaking it off, he moves on.

“I was actually talking about the burns.”

“Oh! _Oh._ Is it okay to talk about? I don’t want to offend him with gossip…”

Baekhyun laughs at this, finally admitting what he had been meaning to from their first steps inside the restaurant. “Kyungsoo may seem really intimidating, but I promise you that he is one of the softest, kindest people you will ever have the pleasure of meeting. Besides, this is a small town, it’s not like it’s something that not everyone already knows at this point.”

When Chanyeol hesitantly nods his head to signal Baekhyun to continue, Baekhyun proceeds with the story, starting from when it first opened in the sixties.

Kyungsoo’s grandmother opened the restaurant when she was very young, her and her husband building the establishment from the ground and upwards on their large plot of land. It took them two years to build, and in December of 1966, they had their grand opening. It was a big hit back then, more like a diner than an actual restaurant at the time.

Five years after the opening, his grandmother’s husband passed due to an illness. In a weird turn of irony, more people came after that as some form of condolences for the restaurant’s and Kyungsoo’s grandmother’s loss. It was bittersweet, but business really began to boom after that. Everyone in the town loved it, and even people from out of town would commute just for a meal. In the new wave of customers that came, she met Kyungsoo’s grandfather, and after a few years, they were married. Sometime in the early eighties, a grease fire erupted and burnt the entire kitchen down to the ground. Luckily, though, will help from nearly all the townsfolk, the restaurant was back up and running within less than two months.

It’s at this point that Baekhyun takes a break from the story to find Chanyeol listening intently, coffee forgotten and probably rather lukewarm by this point. He picks up his own mug, relishing in the mild warmth that seeps into his palms. He’s grateful, as the old building tends to get a bit drafty.

“So what happened after the fire?” Chanyeol inquires, completely entranced still. However, he does finally take notice of his coffee. Baekhyun watches and counts as he collects one, two, three, four packets of sugar and pours them into the mug. It’s no wonder the boy is so sweet.

“Well,” Baekhyun starts again. He tries to recollect where he left off exactly and then continues.

Kyungsoo’s grandmother gave birth to his father in the early seventies, and he was a very strong baby that grew into a fine man. He grew up in the restaurant and the family house behind it, so he was very familiar with all of the regular customers and also very social. (At this, Baekhyun throws in a _I don’t know what happened with Kyungsoo’s people skills._ ) By the time he was fourteen, he was already working as a server and saving up money to leave the town. When he was nineteen, he did leave. After two years, he returned with a beautiful girlfriend and an infant named, of course, Kyungsoo. He also came back with gifts in hopes that it would suffice as an apology for leaving, but it didn’t stop Kyungsoo’s grandmother from knocking him upside the head (and also crying a lot).

Kyungsoo grew up very similar to his father, only his life was much more quiet. The highway was put in when he was rather young, so he doesn’t remember the times when the restaurant was very busy anymore. He’s mostly accustomed to a few people dining here and there throughout the week. It’s rare to see more than two tables come in a day.

“Then two years ago, there was another fire,” a different voice throws in. It’s Kyungsoo leaning over the table with a devious smirk. Chanyeol turns his attention to him and Baekhyun, from his seat, feels like he’s been caught red handed. Kyungsoo throws a firm hand on his shoulder, reassuring him that he doesn’t mind the story being told and that he is not upset with Baekhyun.

“A lot of people will say that my grandmother tried to burn it to the ground before she died, sort of like a captain going down with her ship since business has been pretty bad, but I want you to hear this part from someone who was here. My grandmother wasn’t even in the restaurant at the time, she was at home and completely bedridden,” he insists. Kyungsoo stands back up before taking the seat next to Baekhyun. He unties his apron from around his waist and places it on the table in front of him.

Kyungsoo admits that the fire was his own fault, and that’s why he was the one to get so hurt from it. A fire had started in one of the ovens, and had he not opened the oven door it wouldn’t have been nearly as bad as it was. The fire had grown rapidly once he opened the oven door and let more air in. It had clung to his clothes, and in his panic he tried more to put the fire inside the appliance out rather than put the fire on his body out. Everything escalated too fast and he was too panicked to act rationally in the situation.

“Luckily my dad dragged me out of there and called the hospital or else I really could have died,” he continues, and then his tone drops to something softer and more solemn. “I still regret acting the way I did in that situation, because I really destroyed half of the restaurant. Had I just put out the fire on my clothes, my dad wouldn’t have even had to worry about me and could have put out the fire himself or called the fire department. He was so focused on me, though, that the restaurant was nearly destroyed. Everyone expected me to leave after that, but I felt too guilty. The moment I could walk without passing out from the pain, I was back here.”

Baekhyun’s heard the story, heard almost the exact same words, but it still breaks his heart every time Kyungsoo retells it. He looks over to Chanyeol, sees that he is just staring at the table with this pained expression glued to his face.

Kyungsoo chuckles uncomfortably and then slaps his palms on the table. “Well, that’s my family’s gossip,” he chirps. The devious smirk returns when he wraps an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder and pulls him closer. “You wanna hear something _really_ good? You should hear this kid’s story.”

Chanyeol doesn’t ask, though, and Baekhyun doesn’t tell.

They’re quiet nearly the entire ride home. Baekhyun doesn’t know what to say, and Chanyeol looks entirely too lost in thought to speak.

About halfway back he murmurs, “I wanted to tell him that he shouldn’t be so hard on himself, but I couldn’t find the words.”

Baekhyun hesitantly rests his palm on top of Chanyeol’s and gives him a soft smile, “He knows.”

* * *

 

“No,” Chanyeol mutters. “No, no, no. Don’t do this.”

It’s horrible, Baekhyun thinks, the way he’s almost relieved when Chanyeol’s engine fails to turn over. It squeals, sputters, and then dies every time. The gas does nothing for his poor car. All they did was offer a drink to a plant that had already withered. He feels selfish, but it doesn’t outweigh the comfort of knowing he has company for a little while longer.

“I can call a friend of mine to see what they can do?” He offers to a defeated Chanyeol. The man is sitting in his car, resting his head on the steering wheel and running his hand over the dusty dashboard like he’s caressing a dog that was dying in his arms. He’s never seen anything so sad.

“Please,” Chanyeol whines without lifting his head.

Baekhyun goes into the house to use the landline phone. He dials the general store and hopes Jongdae or Yixing is still there. He can see Chanyeol through the window as he hears ringing through the speaker. He’s gotten out of the car now, hands shoved in his pockets and head hanging low. Jongdae picks up after the fourth ring.

“Jongdae from Kim’s General Store speaking. What can I do for ya?” he answers in his usual chipper voice.

“It’s Baekhyun,” Baekhyun says. “Do ya think you could tow a car into town for me and take a look?”

Jongdae groans. It’s long and whiny and he clearly doesn’t want to. “Did your truck finally bite it?”

“It’s Chanyeol’s car, actually.”

Suddenly Jongdae doesn’t sound so inconvenienced. “I can come in the afternoon,” he says all too eagerly. “Guess I get to be _his_ prince charming instead.”

He only wishes that Jongdae could see him rolling his eyes. “Thanks, Jongdae.” Baekhyun hangs up before the shopkeeper can say anything worse. He really doesn’t know how Yixing deals with him all day, every day.

Heading back out to the porch, Baekhyun finds Chanyeol in his own usual spot on the swing. His legs are long enough to reach the ground unlike the inn owner, making him feel just the slightest twinge of jealousy. Chanyeol looks like a painting like this, Baekhyun thinks. His hair is styled back, but pieces are falling into his face after the wind from the car blew them out of place. There’s a shadow across the right half of his face where the awning blocks the sun from reaching. Baekhyun stands in front of him and just looks for a moment.

“What’s going on?” Chanyeol asks, looking up into Baekhyun’s eyes. He feels a bit uncomfortable in his skin with such a sad expression in front of him, like he’s the cause of it.

“Good and bad news,” he answers. “Jongdae can tow your car into town… Just not until tomorrow afternoon.”

Baekhyun expects Chanyeol to sigh, to frown, to look more disappointed. He smiles, though. He grins up at Baekhyun, “One more night?”

Baekhyun lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and giggles lightly. “One more night,” he agrees with a single nod.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is long overdue.

“Sixth floor?!” Baekhyun gasps. “And that’s not the top floor?”

Chanyeol laughs out loud at Baekhyun’s disbelief. The smaller boy has a hard time believing that Chanyeol lives in an eight story building. Chanyeol just keeps laughing, but all Baekhyun can focus on is trying to picture himself standing in front of an eight story building. He feels so small. His world is so small.

“It’s actually a pretty small building in comparison to most of them there.”

Baekhyun’s jaw goes a little slack, and he quickly scrambles to cover it, forgetting he had been chewing. Chanyeol laughs even more. Baekhyun is starting to get used to the sound. “Have you lived there your whole life?”

With a snort, Chanyeol shakes his head. “I have lived all over the place. Where I live now is just so I could be close to my school’s campus, but I’m probably gonna move into a different building within the next year.”

Baekhyun reaches for his cup a few times blindly as he tries to keep his eyes on Chanyeol. He doesn’t want to miss anything the boy is saying. “How come?”

“I want to live on my own now, I guess,” he answers with a shrug.

The smaller man takes a sip of his warm tea and tries not to make a face, but he doesn’t understand why anyone would want to live by himself. After the first few days, it gets lonely. After the first few years? Well…

“You should visit sometime. Let me return some of this hospitality,” Chanyeol suggests very nonchalantly, and for the first time, Baekhyun considers the possibility of leaving the town for a little while.

He smiles shyly, hides behind his cup. “Maybe someday.”

The thought scares him the more he dwells on it, though. Baekhyun has never left the town. He’s hardly even left the inn. After his mom leaving and never coming back and then his brother doing the same, he almost sees the city as a monster. It sucks people in, drains their energy and makes time turn faster. Then suddenly they forget where they’re from and their roots. But he looks back up at Chanyeol and sees a man that loves where he lives and has lived. He seems content with the city.

“Have you ever been to a town like this before?”

“Once,” Chanyeol nods. He smiles in a daze like he’s replaying the memory in his mind. “My mom grew up in a town not much bigger than this, and when my parents got divorced, she went back home for a while and took me with her. I loved it.”

Baekhyun rests his chin on top of his folded arms as Chanyeol goes on and on about living with his grandfather and mother on a farm for a few weeks. He says that’s when he first started learning guitar. The whole time he talks, he has a goofy grin on his face that’s infectious. Baekhyun hides his behind his arms, not wanting to distract Chanyeol from telling his stories. He thinks he really likes the way Chanyeol explains things, like every day is exciting. It very well may be for him.

They talk for a bit longer, about nothing in particular, before Chanyeol gets up from the table. He tries to start washing dishes, but Baekhyun quickly squeezes his way in front of the sink and prevents him from doing so. “My job,” he states. He guides Chanyeol back to the table and pulls his chair out for him, “Your job.”

“I feel like a freeloader,” Chanyeol whines. “Let me help.”

Baekhyun shakes his head, though. He starts washing the dishes on his own while Chanyeol pouts from the dinner table.

“Can I dry them?”

“No.”

“Can I clear the table?”

“No.”

“Can I do something other than sit here?”

Baekhyun sighs, grips the edge of the counter. He feels somewhat like he’s dealing with a toddler. “Do you want to go play the piano?” he asks very patronizingly.

Chanyeol stops his pouting and nods. Baekhyun shoos him. He finishes up dishes on auto-pilot, his hands working by muscle memory to complete the task as Baekhyun’s mind can only focus on Chanyeol. Not even so much Chanyeol, but just his new feeling. He doesn’t even know what to call it, but it feels so new and _good_ to not be lonely. Thinking about it, he wonders if he’s so taken to Chanyeol because he’s the first fresh face that Baekhyun has seen in five years. But thinking about it further, he realizes that it _is_ Chanyeol. The man is so kind and compassionate. He’s good at conversation and listens and absorbs everything in earnest, even curious to hear more and more. Baekhyun has gone long periods of time without seeing someone new before, and not once has he been so taken to them like he is with the tall, caring man.

When Baekhyun finishes up the dishes he stays at the sink for a moment longer just breathing. He leans forward, resting his hips on the edge of the counter and exhales long and deep. “Alright, Baek,” he mumbles, snapping himself out of what he considers self-pity.

Back in Baekhyun’s room, Chanyeol is lightly tapping away at the piano keys. There’s no distinct melody that Baekhyun picks up on, but then again, he doesn’t know many songs on the radio. It could be anything, really.

“What song is that?” he inquires, sitting cross-legged on his nicely made bed. Chanyeol keeps playing while looking to Baekhyun to acknowledge that he did hear his question. He continues playing for another minute or two before his fingers come to a rest and he exhales slowly.

Tapping on a key in a lower octave to keep his fingers busy, Chanyeol turns his attention back to Baekhyun. “It’s one of my compositions that I did for school a few years ago. It was all on my computer, but for some reason I remembered the melody and wanted to figure it out again.”

Baekhyun is still stuck on the fact that Chanyeol wrote the song himself. “That’s really amazing,” Baekhyun tells him softly. Chanyeol blushes a bit before scratching his neck and then standing up, nearly smacking his knees on the edge.

“How are your fingers?” the taller one asks to a Baekhyun, who suddenly feels very small sitting down in front of him.

Looking at his fingers, Baekhyun’s eyes travel back up to Chanyeol’s in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“When I asked if you could play last night, you said that you couldn’t because they were broken.”

Baekhyun lets out an awkward, choked laugh. He splays his fingers for Chanyeol again, “Sorry. Still broken.”

Chanyeol takes a step closer, pink dusting his cheeks, and places his upturned palms under Baekhyun’s hands. The smaller’s first instinct is to pull his hands closer to his body, but with one look at Chanyeol’s honest expression, he puts them back where they were. Chanyeol hesitantly inspects them for a moment before pulling them closer up to his face and then gingerly placing small kisses on each of Baekhyun’s fingertips. Baekhyun can only watch in a stupor as Chanyeol does so, unable to figure out how to react or speak. When Chanyeol finishes, Baekhyun is still able to feel the other’s warm breath fanning out over his palms.

Holding Baekhyun’s dainty hands in his larger ones more firmly, he speaks very softly. “Fixed?”

Baekhyun can only barely shake his head and then look away.

Later that night while under the covers, Baekhyun stares at his hands and the shadows they create on the walls from the low light. For the first time in over a decade, he feels a strong desire to play piano again.

* * *

 

The sun rises above the tree tops the next morning, splaying light through the bed and breakfast, but Baekhyun is still fast asleep under his blankets. For the first time in a _long_ time, he didn’t set an alarm for himself to wake up early and cook or clean. When the clock is waning towards eleven in the morning, he finally begins to stir. It takes a while, but eventually he manages to open his eyes and sit up. When he sees the clock he is neither stressed nor worried because of sleeping in. The only thing on his mind is that this is really his last day with Chanyeol.

He stumbles out of his room still in pajamas, hair everywhere, and looking like a sight for sore eyes. Baekhyun can’t bother to do anything before his first cup of coffee. That’s his priority. He can already almost smell it brewing in the kitchen, the coffee maker waiting for his eventual arrival. Except when he gets there, a steaming mug already sits on the counter for him.

Chanyeol is on the couch in an equally disheveled state holding a bowl of cereal in his hands. “I found cereal,” he tiredly mumbles, words mostly understandable despite the spoon hanging out of his mouth.

“Good,” Baekhyun replies as he takes a seat on the other end. He really couldn’t be bothered to make a real breakfast today anyways. The coffee is really warm, and a little on the strong side for his liking, but he is grateful anyways after he takes the first sip. He holds it out a little so Chanyeol can take notice, “Mm thanks.”

Life slowly ( _very_ slowly) returns to Baekhyun as the coffee in his mug depletes. He is so tired. He’s done more in the previous two days than he has really done in nearly a decade.

“I’m not entirely sure when Jongdae will be here to pick up your car.”

“I’m not worried about it.”

“We can follow him into town if you want. There’s not much to do, but we can visit the book store or something?”

Chanyeol smiles softly, “Okay.”

 It takes a good thirty minutes for Baekhyun to completely finish his coffee, and even then he is only half as awake as he normally would be. The idea of being alone again really drains him.

He excuses himself to get showered and dressed, and for some reason decides that he wants to slide into his nicest jeans for once and a knitted sweater. Chanyeol is dressed too when he makes his way to the living room again, and he hears Chanyeol speaking to someone. At some point in time while Baekhyun was getting ready, Jongdae arrived. He sits on the couch with Baekhyun’s guest, somehow keeping a respectable distance between them. Baekhyun didn’t know Jongdae had it in him to acknowledge personal space.

“We ready to hit the road?” Jongdae asks when he notices Baekhyun, voice chipper as usual.

Baekhyun swallows the lump that forms in his throat and wordlessly nods. He’s as ready as he’s going to be.

Jongdae’s really bad at hooking cars up to the tow truck, but he says that Junmyeon had been running late and also that he admitted to just not wanting to do it. Being the pushover that he is, Jongdae came in spite of having very little experience with the task. Chanyeol is at a loss. Baekhyun does what he can to help, and after nearly an hour of trial and error, the three are mostly confident that Chanyeol’s car _might_ not fall off of the tow truck. Chanyeol and Baekhyun still follow behind at quite a large distance. Just in case.

“You know,” Chanyeol speaks up in the car, eyes still trained on the forest just on the outskirts of the road. “I really am grateful for everything you’ve done for me.”

“You aren’t leaving just yet, so please don’t start with the goodbyes.” And Baekhyun hates how vulnerable he sounds even to his own ears.

So Chanyeol changes the subject and asks Baekhyun what high school was like for him. The topic is almost just as bad, only for more embarrassing reasons. He keeps it as vague as possible, but Chanyeol still ends up laughing at him for the remainder of the ride.

* * *

 

Junmyeon has a fatherly quality about him that Chanyeol respects. He pulls Baekhyun in for a tight hug and then ruffles his hair, “I’ve missed ya, kid.”

Jongdae wraps his hands around Junmyeon’s bicep, “Me too, right, Jun?”

“Of course,” he replies, but he’s mostly paying attention to the firm handshake he offers Chanyeol before introducing himself as _Junmyeon, the Town’s Best Mechanic._

 Jongdae snorts, “Also this town’s _only_ mechanic.”

“I’m Chanyeol,” he returns.

“So this’s your car?” Junmyeon asks, and when Chanyeol nods, he adds, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Baekhyun smiles pitifully at the hurt expression Chanyeol shoots his way.

“Well, I’ll take a look if ya wanna come back in a few hours. You’re always welcome to stay here as long as you want. Jongdae could use the company and you know that Yixing’s always happy to see ya, Baek.”

Baekhyun and Chanyeol both smile and thank him as he starts unhooking Chanyeol’s unfortunate car from the tow truck.

Jongdae takes his place behind the counter when they all find their way inside the store. Baekhyun follows and strikes up conversation with him, not paying attention to Chanyeol who walks towards the back of the store. There he finds Yixing. The man is once again surrounded by flowers, and Chanyeol thinks he has never seen someone who looks so content with where he is.

There’s something beautiful about the way Yixing’s hands delicately place flowers in a glass vase, and the way he stares at what he’s arranged like he’s studying a painting. Chanyeol pauses by the counter, and waits for Yixing to acknowledge him. When he does, he looks genuinely shocked. “You’ve stayed?”

“For now,” Chanyeol says softly. “My car is broken so Junmyeon is working on it. After that, I’ll be leaving.”

Yixing grabs some tulips to add to his vase of flowers. “That’s really a shame. I think Baekhyun wants you to stay.”

“Really?” Chanyeol asks, turning to see Baekhyun still at the counter talking to Jongdae. They make eye contact and Baekhyun offers him a smile that he gladly returns.

“From what I hear, he’s been alone in that house for a few years. I’m sure he enjoys the company. Baekhyun’s not the type that should be alone. I think you should stay, too.”

Chanyeol would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it at least once, but he has a life back home. He has friends and family and internships to apply for. Here, he’s not entirely sure what he would do. It’s not like he can just live off of Baekhyun’s hospitality for the rest of his life, even if Baekhyun would probably let him.

“Baekhyun is the most generous person I know. He’s the first face I saw when I stumbled into this town, and he introduced me to Jongdae and Junmyeon and helped get me set up here. And not once has he asked for anything in return. I always try to give him free flowers, but he refuses. He’s too good to be stuck by himself all the time.”

In an attempt to lighten the mood that somehow grew so heavy, Chanyeol jokes, “You sound like you’ve fallen for him.”

“Trust me. You will too.”

Chanyeol doesn’t doubt it. He’s already started. Every time Baekhyun sits down with him at dinner and laughs at his jokes, or when he listens to Chanyeol play piano no matter how bad it sounds, or when he asks Chanyeol about his life out of genuine interest, Chanyeol feels it. He feels himself grow fond. At the same time, though, he feels himself grow scared. Because eventually, Chanyeol is going to have to leave, and it’s going to be sooner rather than later.

“The flowers smell beautiful, Yixing,” Baekhyun comments, bumping into Chanyeol a little bit to make his presence known.

Chanyeol feels it in moments like this, too. In the moments where Baekhyun stands just a little too close and smiles up at him, eyes and teeth sparkling. He forces himself to smile back and not take a step away, but he can’t trust himself to speak evenly when Baekhyun happily asks him if he wants to head to the book store. So he just follows behind Baekhyun, focusing on the warmth of the other’s fingers wrapped tightly and excitedly around his wrist.

* * *

 

The book store isn’t as empty as Baekhyun expected, but he assumes that since school must have just let out, that’s why the place has some kids here and there studying or looking for books. He doesn’t know if they’ll find anything of interest, though, considering everything was published in the nineties and prior. Baekhyun’s probably read every book in the store at this point, his good relationship with Minseok allowing him to just exchange books rather than actually purchase them.

“Oh, Baekhyun!” A small man with a very large smile exclaims. “It’s been a while! Who’s this?”

“Minseok, this is Chanyeol. Chanyeol,” he gestures to the clerk. “This is Minseok. He owns the place.”

“Hiya, Chanyeol! You guys are actually here at a great time. I just made some cookies and needed someone to try them.”

Baekhyun shoots Chanyeol a look and prays that he gets the message. “Oh, sorry, Minseok. We actually just ate.”

Luckily, Chanyeol thanks Minseok but turns down the baked goods as well.

“It’s probably for the best, anyways. There’s a reason why I own a book store and not a bakery.”

Baekhyun laughs uncomfortably, probably because he doesn’t want to agree and upset the bookstore owner. Chanyeol smiles politely.

Minseok slaps Baekhyun playfully on the shoulder and Baekhyun winces. “Look at yourself! Who’s this Chanyeol guy to you? He’s got ya planning out your outfits and everything.”

He’s twitching. Trying not to sound too irritated or embarrassed, Baekhyun takes a half-step away from the man before he begins speaking. “Have you spoken to Jongdae lately? You two really are just alike sometimes.” Sparing a look in Chanyeol’s direction, it seems as he didn’t hear the statement anyways. Chanyeol is deeply absorbed in some novel with fraying pages.

He’s not sure what the title or author is, but he sees that it came out of the Adventure and Fantasy section, and Baekhyun feels it’s safe to assume that sounds just like Chanyeol. All he has learned of him makes his life seem like one big adventure; a fantasy in Baekhyun’s mind. Chanyeol has lived in many places, including farms and eight story buildings. He has traveled, judging by the stickers on his guitar case, and seen the world. Baekhyun has seen his town, with all of its old buildings and old families, and that is practically all he knows. But Chanyeol has learned and experienced so much more. Baekhyun admires that. He admires Chanyeol’s desire to see and do more than Baekhyun could even imagine, and he wishes he were brave enough to follow suit. Maybe even at Chanyeol’s side.

Minseok appears in Baekhyun’s line of vision and makes the innkeeper feel rather bashful. “I haven’t spoken to Jongdae in a few days,” he answers. “But I did talk to Kyungsoo this morning, and I see _exactly_ what he was talking about.”

“Yeah?” Baekhyun asks, only half listening.

Minseok chuckles, grabbing a stack of books that had been traded in for new ones off of the counter to put away. He starts to wander through the aisles, sliding books into place.

“Wait, what were you talking about?” Baekhyun finally acknowledges what Minseok had said. The other man only shrugs with a sly grin on his face. “What did he say about me?”

Before they leave, Minseok takes the book Chanyeol had been looking at and hands it back to him. Chanyeol looks confused, but gladly accepts it.

“Keep it,” Minseok tells him. “And try not to forget about this place when you go back to wherever you’re from.”

Baekhyun smiles shyly when Chanyeol looks at him, and then shifts his gaze back to Minseok. “I don’t think I can.”

* * *

 

Around six o’clock, Baekhyun drives him and Chanyeol back to the garage. Jongdae is sitting on top of a tool box and talking away to a pair of feet hanging out from underneath Chanyeol’s car. He has a cellphone in one hand and is tapping away on it, and the other hand holds a beer. Baekhyun knows damn well that Jongdae doesn’t get signal out here. That’s the whole reason he doesn’t have a phone of his own. That, and he probably wouldn’t know how to use it if he did. The landline is good enough for him, though he rarely gets calls.

Junmyeon is silent under the car, probably working hard. Or hiding from Jongdae. Baekhyun would understand both.

“I’m nervous,” Chanyeol admits at his side. He looks restless, fingers playing with a loose string in the stitching of his shirt. His brows are pulled close together. If Baekhyun didn’t know better, he’d think Chanyeol was waiting for news on a sick loved one in the hospital.

“How goes it?” Baekhyun asks, letting his presence be known.

Jongdae hops down from the tool box to stand with Baekhyun and Chanyeol. He offers them drinks and food, but doesn’t say anything about the car. It’s Junmyeon’s area of expertise anyways.

“H-how’s my car?” Chanyeol stutters.

“You’re asking the wrong person,” Jongdae shrugs, then takes Chanyeol’s hand and slides a can of beer into it. Chanyeol looks at it but then lets his hand fall limp at his side again.

“He’s worried,” Baekhyun speaks for Chanyeol.

“With a car like that, I would be too. Jun hasn’t moved from that spot in like an hour. He might actually be asleep.” Jongdae tells them, but throws in a hasty _kidding!_ when he sees the panicked look that takes over the tall man’s features.

Junmyeon stirs a bit, but doesn’t look like he’s quite ready to slide back out from underneath the car.

Baekhyun opens his beer, looks around the garage while he takes a sip. There are a few chasses spread throughout and parts laying around everywhere, but Baekhyun doesn’t really know what any of it is for or does. His father was always the one to work on the cars, and his truck has been pretty reliable, aside from one or two times where Junmyeon has tended to its wounds for him.

In the corner, there’s a mural on the wall that’s a distorted version of the town in colors way brighter than anything that accurately suits it. Baekhyun nudges Chanyeol with his elbow and takes another sip. “See that painting on the wall over there?” he asks and waits until Chanyeol’s eyes follow to where Baekhyun’s are. “My brother did that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother.”

Baekhyun nods solemnly. “He’s still out there somewhere.” _I think_ , he doesn’t add.

Jongdae doesn’t say anything. He knows the story and knows the pain that follows with it, he was at Baekhyun’s side as everything transpired over the years, and he knows that the topic of his family is not something Baekhyun would even slightly hint at unless he really felt comfortable with the person he was speaking to.

Baekhyun thinks nothing of the fond smile the Jongdae shoots between him and Chanyeol.

It’s at this moment that Junmyeon slides back out from under the car with a grunt and a few elbows scraping along the cement floor. He stands up, wipes his forehead, and fixes the sleeves of his coveralls before accepting a can of beer from Jongdae, too.

“What do ya got for us?” Jongdae chirps.  

“Two days.”

“Two days?” Chanyeol inquires.

Baekhyun shuffles a bit closer and says quietly to Chanyeol, “That means it’s going to take him two days.”

Chanyeol visibly deflates. Baekhyun knows it’s from disappointment, but he wants to trick himself into thinking it’s relief. Then they’d be sharing the same feeling, because Baekhyun really would like to shotgun his beer and then jump for joy. Chanyeol is staying.

On the ride back to the inn, Chanyeol drives because Baekhyun had been drinking, be it only half of a beer. Baekhyun turns on the radio but doesn’t bother to tune it to a station, instead dancing to the static coming through the speakers because he has his own melody playing in his head. The windows are down, and the wind is messing up his hair. In the distance, the sun is setting over the trees, painting the sky vibrant. He looks to Chanyeol and grins like he’s just won the lottery. Chanyeol smiles back, not entirely sure why Baekhyun is so happy, but he thinks he may have a pretty good idea.  


End file.
